Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Recent advances in quantum dots for biomedical applications

  • Review
  • Published:
Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Quantum dots (QDs) have been widely used for fluorescent nanoprobes as bioimaging agents. However, QD can have toxic side-effects as they include heavy metals. Many researchers suggest graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as an alternative material with low toxicity and good biocompatibility. GQDs have many attractive features due to their structure. These include outstanding mechanical properties, optical properties, and good physicochemical stability. These exceptional properties can be exploited for biomedical applications, especially in the fields of drug-delivery, bioimaging, and tissue-engineering. This article presents a comprehensive review of GQDs. The primary focus is on their unique properties as they relate to the biomedical field and recently reported applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Copyright 2017, Royal Society of Chemistry, reproduced with permission

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Chauhan N, Maekawa T, Kumar DNS (2017) Graphene based biosensors—accelerating medical diagnostics to new-dimensions. J Mater Res 32:1–23

  • Chen N, He Y, Su Y, Li X, Huang Q, Wang H, Zhang X, Tai R, Fan C (2012) The cytotoxicity of cadmium-based quantum dots. Biomaterials 33(5):1238–1244

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feng T, Ai X, Ong H, Zhao Y (2016) Dual-responsive carbon dots for tumor extracellular microenvironment triggered targeting and enhanced anticancer drug delivery. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 8(29):18732–18740

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gvozdyuk AA, Petrova PS, Goryacheva IY (2017) Sukhorukov GB Synthesis of high luminescent carbon nanoparticles. In: Saratov Fall Meeting 2016: Fourth International Symposium on Optics and Biophotonics. International Society for Optics and Photonics, pp 103360O–103360O–103366

  • Habiba K, Bracho-Rincon D, Gonzalez-Feliciano J, Villalobos-Santos J, Makarov V, Ortiz D, Avalos J, Gonzalez C, Weiner B, Morell G (2015) Synergistic antibacterial activity of PEGylated silver–graphene quantum dots nanocomposites. Appl Mater Today 1(2):80–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu Q, Sun W, Wang C, Gu Z (2016) Recent advances of cocktail chemotherapy by combination drug delivery systems. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 98:19–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Islam MS, Deng Y, Tong L, Roy AK, Faisal SN, Hassan M, Minett AI, Gomes VG (2017) In-situ direct grafting of graphene quantum dots onto carbon fibre by low temperature chemical synthesis for high performance flexible fabric supercapacitor. Mater Today Commun 10:112–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kairdolf BA, Smith AM, Stokes TH, Wang MD, Young AN, Nie S (2013) Semiconductor quantum dots for bioimaging and biodiagnostic applications. Ann Rev Anal Chem 6:143–162

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ko N, Nafiujjaman M, Lee J, Lim H-N, Lee Y-k, Kwon I (2017) Graphene quantum dot-based theranostic agents for active targeting of breast cancer. RSC Adv 7(19):11420–11427

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Konwar A, Gogoi N, Majumdar G, Chowdhury D (2015) Green chitosan–carbon dots nanocomposite hydrogel film with superior properties. Carbohyd Polym 115:238–245

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J, In I, Lee H, Lee K, Jeong J, Park S (2013) Target delivery and cell imaging using hyaluronic acid-functionalized graphene quantum dots. Mol Pharm 10(10):3736–3744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li L, Wu G, Yang G, Peng J, Zhao J, Zhu J-J (2013) Focusing on luminescent graphene quantum dots: current status and future perspectives. Nanoscale 5(10):4015–4039

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li K, Zhao X, Weib G, Sua Z (2017) Recent advance in the cancer bioimaging with graphene quantum dots. Curr Med Chem 24:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Q, Guo B, Rao Z, Zhang B, Gong JR (2013) Strong two-photon-induced fluorescence from photostable, biocompatible nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots for cellular and deep-tissue imaging. Nano Lett 13(6):2436–2441

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Medintz IL, Uyeda HT, Goldman ER, Mattoussi H (2005) Quantum dot bioconjugates for imaging, labelling and sensing. Nat Mater 4(6):435

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nigam P, Waghmode S, Louis M, Wangnoo S, Chavan P, Sarkar D (2014) Graphene quantum dots conjugated albumin nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery and imaging of pancreatic cancer. J Mater Chem B 2(21):3190–3195

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nurunnabi M, Khatun Z, Reeck GR, Lee DY, Lee Y-k (2013) Near infra-red photoluminescent graphene nanoparticles greatly expand their use in noninvasive biomedical imaging. Chem Commun 49(44):5079–5081

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nurunnabi M, Parvez K, Nafiujjaman M, Revuri V, Khan HA, Feng X, Lee Y-k (2015) Bioapplication of graphene oxide derivatives: drug/gene delivery, imaging, polymeric modification, toxicology, therapeutics and challenges. RSC Adv 5(52):42141–42161

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Omidi M, Yadegari A, Tayebi L (2017) Wound dressing application of pH-sensitive carbon dots/chitosan hydrogel. RSC Adv 7(18):10638–10649

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peng J, Gao W, Gupta BK, Liu Z, Romero-Aburto R, Ge L, Song L, Alemany LB, Zhan X, Gao G (2012) Graphene quantum dots derived from carbon fibers. Nano Lett 12(2):844–849

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ponomarenko L, Schedin F, Katsnelson M, Yang R, Hill E, Novoselov K, Geim A (2008) Chaotic Dirac billiard in graphene quantum dots. Science 320(5874):356–358

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qiu J, Li D, Mou X, Li J, Guo W, Wang S, Yu X, Ma B, Zhang S, Tang W (2016) Effects of graphene quantum dots on the self-renewal and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Adv Healthcare Mater 5(6):702–710

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Radovic LR, Bockrath B (2005) On the chemical nature of graphene edges: origin of stability and potential for magnetism in carbon materials. J Am Chem Soc 127(16):5917–5927

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seo Y, Hwang J, Kim J, Jeong Y, Hwang MP, Choi J (2014) Antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes decorated with silver nanoparticles. Int J Nanomed 9:4621

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen J, Zhu Y, Yang X, Li C (2012) Graphene quantum dots: emergent nanolights for bioimaging, sensors, catalysis and photovoltaic devices. Chem Commun 48(31):3686–3699

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun H, Gao N, Wu L, Ren J, Wei W, Qu X (2013a) Highly photoluminescent amino-functionalized graphene quantum dots used for sensing copper ions. Chem-A Eur J 19(40):13362–13368

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun H, Wu L, Wei W, Qu X (2013b) Recent advances in graphene quantum dots for sensing. Mater Today 16(11):433–442

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tang J, Chen Q, Xu L, Zhang S, Feng L, Cheng L, Xu H, Liu Z, Peng R (2013) Graphene oxide–silver nanocomposite as a highly effective antibacterial agent with species-specific mechanisms. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 5(9):3867–3874

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Wu C, Zhou X, Han T, Xin X, Wu J, Zhang J, Guo S (2013) Enhancing cell nucleus accumulation and DNA cleavage activity of anti-cancer drug via graphene quantum dots. Sci Rep 3:2852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Sun X, Lao J, He H, Cheng T, Wang M, Wang S, Huang F (2014) Multifunctional graphene quantum dots for simultaneous targeted cellular imaging and drug delivery. Coll Surf B 122:638–644

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z-H, Yang J-Y, Wu X-W, Chen X-Q, Yu J-G, Wu Y-P (2017) Enhanced electrochemical performance of porous activated carbon by forming composite with graphene as high-performance supercapacitor electrode material. J Nanopart Res 19(2):77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Z, Chang K, Peeters F (2008) Tuning of energy levels and optical properties of graphene quantum dots. Phys Rev B 77(23):235411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Z, Zhang J, Chen N, Qu L (2012) Graphene quantum dots: an emerging material for energy-related applications and beyond. Energy Environ Sci 5(10):8869–8890

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang S, Zhu J, Qing Y, Fan C, Wang L, Huang Y, Sheng R, Guo Y, Wang T, Pan Y (2017) Construction of hierarchical porous carbon nanosheets from template-assisted assembly of coal-based graphene quantum dots for high performance supercapacitor electrodes. Mater Today Energy 6:36–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao J, Chen G, Zhu L, Li G (2011) Graphene quantum dots-based platform for the fabrication of electrochemical biosensors. Electrochem Commun 13(1):31–33

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao H, Ding R, Zhao X, Li Y, Qu L, Pei H, Yildirimer L, Wu Z, Zhang W (2017) Graphene-based nanomaterials for drug and/or gene delivery, bioimaging, and tissue engineering. Drug Discov Today 22(9):1302–1317

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu S, Zhang J, Qiao C, Tang S, Li Y, Yuan W, Li B, Tian L, Liu F, Hu R (2011) Strongly green-photoluminescent graphene quantum dots for bioimaging applications. Chem Commun 47(24):6858–6860

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) and funded by the Korean government (MSIP&MOHW) (No. 2017M3A9E4048170). This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2016R1A6A3A11934989).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Il Keun Kwon and Na Re Ko have made equal contributions to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dentistry, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea

    Jae Seo Lee

  2. Department of Dental Materials, School of Dentistry, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea

    Il Keun Kwon & Na Re Ko

  3. Interdisciplinary Program for Bioengineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Yun Hee Youn

Authors
  1. Jae Seo Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yun Hee Youn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Il Keun Kwon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Na Re Ko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Il Keun Kwon or Na Re Ko.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of the interest

J.S. Lee, Y.H. Youn, I.K. Kwon, and N.R. Ko declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lee, J.S., Youn, Y.H., Kwon, I.K. et al. Recent advances in quantum dots for biomedical applications. Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation 48, 209–214 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40005-018-0387-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40005-018-0387-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation